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Barile leaving Summit on top, headed to Roosevelt

After winning a CIF championship at Summit High School last season, head coach Tony Barile accepted the head football coaching position at Eastvale Roosevelt High School on Sunday. Barile, who has coached Summit from the program’s inception in 2006, led the SkyHawks to the CIF-SS Eastern Division championship in December, the school’s first CIF title of any kind.

A member of the vaunted Big VIII League, Roosevelt will be competing with the likes of two-time defending CIF-SS Inland Division champion Corona Centennial, a perennial state title contender. Having taken Summit to the top played a role in Barile’s decision to depart for Roosevelt, a decision he wrestled with over the weekend.

“When I look back on my coaching moves, that played into it somewhat,” Barile said of the CIF title. “I had reached a goal and now I’ve got an opportunity to compete for a state championship, a new goal. I’m going to miss the people at Summit but at the same time I know they’re prepared to continue to be successful.”
Due to realignment, the Big VIII League will lose two members next season to form a six-team league including Centennial, Norco, Corona, Corona Santiago and Riverside King. The ability to emerge from a league that routinely sends a team to a state bowl game was a major factor in Barile’s decision.

Barile, who was the head coach at San Gorgonio and Riverside La Sierra prior to Summit, interviewed for the Roosevelt position on Monday. He received a second interview on Tuesday and met with the administration on Sunday, when he made the decision to accept the job. Leaving Summit was far from an easy decision.

“There were a lot of hurt feelings and unhappiness when I told the team I was leaving and I don’t blame them for that,” Barile said. “It’s tough for me to leave. This is a chance to go down there and coach with the big boys and the hope is to take the program at Roosevelt and turn it into a state powerhouse.”

Summit is losing a good coach. Talk about doing more with less when Summit opened, Coach Barile did a good job in building that program. That said I can see him moving on. Nice pick up for Roosevelt. I’ll be keeping an eye on Roosevelt’s program now to see how quick he turns them into contenders.